To cruise or not to cruise?

That is a good question for many people right now.

For me? I will still cruise.

My husband and I took our first cruise in May of 2003 to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Growing up in the Port Canaveral, Florida area, I saw cruise ships going in and out of the port for several years. We had talked of going on one for our honeymoon, but since we were poor students, going to school several thousand miles away, we figured we would put the cruise on hold. Since we got married in Washington DC, and had two receptions, one in Florida and one in Nashville, Tennessee, we just honeymooned here and there until we got back to Provo, Utah where we were attending school. 

Anyway...back to cruising. I feel very bad about those who had an awful experience on Carnival's cruise ship Triumph. I don't think I would wish that on my worse enemy. I will say, though, that things happen. Planes fall from the sky, cars crash into each other, and cruise ships have their problems too. 

So many of the Trumph passengers repeated many times how the crew was, "Wonderful".  They also mention that it was management that fell on their duty. My question is....what were they to do? I had wondered why they didn't just evacuate? After all, they use tenders all the time for shore excursions.

After listening to CNN for awhile, I learned that the seas were not conducive to evacuating all those people. At first I questioned that, but then when I saw them taking a woman off the ship, I quickly saw that trying to get over 4,000 people off the ship (including babies, small children, elderly, etc.), could be a bit on the dangerous side. So, sadly, there those poor people sat, in a filthy, dirty ship. It could have been worse....at least the boat was till afloat!

Well, like I said before, I will still cruise. We already have one booked for April. My husband and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on 4 May, and we felt this would be a great, inexpensive way to celebrate. Where else can you get 5 days of luxury for less than $100 a day? The crew is wonderful, the food is delicious, and I don't even have to lift a finger to cook, clean, or any of that stuff. 

We've entertained the thought of doing something else, like flying over to Jamaica, or Mexico, or even one of the Sandals resorts. BUT you are talking A LOT more $$$. I know what many of you are thinking. "Sure, it's cheap, but what if you have a 'Triumph' experience?"  Well, I say, what if we decided to fly somewhere and the plane falls out of the sky? At any moment a number of things can happen.

For me, I will keep on cruisin'

And, yes, I will still cruise Carnival.